Our website uses cookies to improve your user experience. If you continue browsing, we assume that you consent to our use of cookies. More information can be found in our Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

Or rather, to turn shoes into phones. O2 Recycle, the arm set up by the telecoms group to deal with sustainability issues, approached Miles, who presumably had noticed similar issues with redundant footwear.

The Walkie Talkies can be worn

Taking a Christian Louboutin heel, a classic men’s brogue, a Nike Air trainer and a Hunter welly, Miles combined them with Nokia and LG phones to repurpose them as Walkie Talkies. Why had nobody thought of this before? Hmmm.

‘Hello?’ ‘Yeah… terrible signal, sorry.’

‘I wondered how I could make phones that people might be embarrassed to be seen with into something that would give them a new lease of life – which is what upcycling is all about,’ says Miles.

I’m fairly sure I’d feel less embarrassed to be seen with a Nokia 6280, then brandishing a wellington on public transport.

‘Sandra it’s over, there’s someone else…’

We can’t be too cynical though, the sentiment is there, and it has produced these fantastic photographs, art directed to evoke a kind of stubborn realism only belied by the actor’s impassive expressions.

The Christian Louboutin option is a shoe-in

Miles says, ‘I hoped that, by turning the phones into Walkie Talkies, I would raise a smile and perhaps a laugh and create things that people wanted once again.’

This retrofitted Hunter Welly doesn’t look at all ridiculous

He adds, ‘I hope that they can get more people talking about the need to recycle old gadgets rather than binning them.’